


To Love a Child

by thequidditchpitch_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Angst, Book 7: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Explicit Language, Friendship, Post War, Post-Hogwarts, Post-War, Romance, The Quidditch Pitch: Eternity, The Quidditch Pitch: Leaving Feast
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-09
Updated: 2011-06-09
Packaged: 2018-10-27 13:26:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10809921
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thequidditchpitch_archivist/pseuds/thequidditchpitch_archivist
Summary: Harry Potter looked up at what was now his most favorite, and the most intimidating building in the world, the Burrow. Since the last time he had visited the structure, nearly three years prior, his life had changed in more ways than he could have possibly imagined. Harry had always known, and had been told numerous times, by multiple sources, that the Weasleys thought of him as one of their own. Harry now, after eleven years, understood what that entailed, and why.





	To Love a Child

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Annie, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [The Quidditch Pitch](http://fanlore.org/wiki/The_Quidditch_Pitch), which went offline in 2015 when the hosting expired, at a time I was not able to renew it. I contacted Open Doors, hoping to preserve the archive using an old backup, and began importing these works as an Open Doors-approved project in April 2017. Open Doors e-mailed all authors about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact us using the e-mail address on [The Quidditch Pitch collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/thequidditchpitch/profile).
> 
> **Author's notes:**
> 
> This is a story written in memory of a wonderful life I had with someone who was once dear to me, Rubymage. She was, a lifetime ago, my main muse. Rubymage is gone from my life, and I pray Fate smiles down on the rest of hers, but this is a story born from those memories (just with a different ending) so I feel necessary to thank her for her final piece of inspiration, though she may never read it.  
>  Now, back to the story at hand, I want all of you to be patient with this story, and to relax as it is put together. She is a complicated one, and needs care. It is broken up into three parts, May 2002, December 2002, and June 2003, with an epilogue. The time will be at the top of each chapter. 

  
Author's notes:

I hope you all enjoy this, and again, Thanks to Ginny Guerra for being an excellent beta and forcing me to clean things up, making it easier to follow.  
Now, on with the show! 

 

* * *

May 2002

Harry Potter looked up at what was now his most favorite, and the most intimidating building in the world, the Burrow. Since the last time he had visited the structure, nearly three years prior, his life had changed in more ways than he could have possibly imagined. Harry had always known, and had been told numerous times, by multiple sources, that the Weasleys thought of him as one of their own. Harry now, after eleven years, understood what that entailed, and why. He felt a little bit guilty on how he had come to the realization, but deep down, he knew that Arthur and Molly would understand, and accept him back warmly into their hearts. 

As he started the slow walk up to the front door, Harry shifted the precious bundle in his arms, and not for the first time, wondered how on earth he could have found such a magnificent treasure. As his eyes focused upward to the door he was heading towards, Harry smiled at the redhead looking at him, leaning on the door jam. He seemed expectant, worried, and relived, and Harry could understand the string of emotions his best friend was going through. He had experienced them on his long flight from the States. Ron schooled his emotions when Harry walked up to him, showing him nothing more than a warm welcoming smile. 

“Does anyone suspect anything?” Harry whispered as he shifted the bundle again. Ron gaped for a moment, his eyes trying to take in the bundle, but focused on Harry’s question quickly. He shook his head and smiled tightly. Harry understood. This could be a wonderful, or a horrible evening, depending on how people took several pieces of news. Harry took a deep breath and stepped in, Ron following and closing the door quietly behind him. Harry turned and handed Ron the treasure. “Can you stay in here? I’ll call you out when I’m ready for you,” he whispered, and smiled at Ron’s dumbstruck expression at handling the bundle. 

“You trust me with…” Ron trailed off as Harry nodded vehemently. Ron smiled and walked over to the sofa.  “They’re all on the kitchen. Good luck, mate.” Harry smiled, and with a deep breath, walked in.

***

Ginny Weasley was beginning to wonder where Ron had disappeared to.  Even when the war had been over nearly five years, her mother still had been doing a constant head count whenever she thought she should. In the recent years, the impulse had trailed off, and the need to go and physically touch each member of her ever-growing family, had dropped. Yet Molly was still looking jittery. Ginny did a quick scan of the room, her eyes, as always, scanning for the four younger faces before anything else. Three year old Vicky chastising two year old Fred for making faces with two year old Molly and eighteen month old Dominique. Ginny then checked on George, who was telling a story that had Charlie and Bill laughing, while Fleur and Angelina rolled their eyes at their husbands. Hermione and Audrey, the only two Muggle-borns at the table, were engrossed in some topic that had the two of them giggling. Percy and her father were talking about the Ministry. “Everything alright?” came a deep, masculine voice from next to her. Ginny turned and plastered on a fake smile for her long time boyfriend.

Derrick McAllister was a Hufflepuff from her year, but they had rarely spoken in school. Ginny had met him again after spraining her hamstring during a tryout Quidditch game she was playing (to scout out a new beater for the Harpies) that his sister happened to be playing. He was a Healer, and they had started up a year ago. He was a good man, Ginny knew, and she sometimes felt bad for the way she had to occasionally put him in his place when he got too protective, clingy or jealous. It had strained their relationship on numerous occasions, and he still wasn’t on good ground with her over the Neville incident a few days back. 

“Nothing, it’s just that Ron isn’t back yet, and Mum’s getting jumpy again.” She nodded covertly towards her mother, and he nodded. 

Sure enough, Molly rose from her place at the far end of the table, at the other head, across from her husband, and said, “I’m going to go get Ron before I serve desert.”

“He’s in the sitting room, but if it’s treacle tart, I’ll take his.” The voice was deep, and confident, and to Ginny, way too familiar for her to mistake it, even if it had been a few years since she had heard it.

The room fell silent as Harry Potter stepped into the light of the kitchen. She saw Hermione nearly rise up out of her chair, her father’s mouth fell open, George smiled, as he approved of Harry’s entrance, and felt Derrick stiffen. He held his hands up, as if begging them to hold their questions. “I know it’s been a while, but if you can all give me a minute, I need to say some-mhh,” Harry was quickly sucked into Molly’s arms. 

“How are you, Harry? Is everything alright? I missed you so much.” Harry smiled down and hugged her back, and then gently pushed her to arm’s distance so he could answer. 

“I missed all of you, too. Everything’s fine and I’m not as good as I once was,” his green eyes searched her out, and when they made contact, he gave a cheeky sort of grin, “but I’m good once, and I ever was.” Ginny had to restrain herself from laughing. He was teasing her! In front of her whole family, no less! Harry smiled and looked back down at Molly. “I have a few things to say, but can I say hello to everyone first?” Molly nodded, and Harry went straight to Hermione, but was stopped by a question, one that made Ginny groan. 

“Any reason you need to be making eyes at my girl?” Derrick asked his voice thick with threat. Harry straitened and looked at the man.

“Your girl? You are?” Harry asked, and Ginny felt a shiver run down her spine, and she wasn’t sure if it was from the threat in Harry’s voice, directed at her boyfriend, or from the deepness and familiarity of the tone.

“Name’s Derrick McAllister and Ginny’s my girl, not yours anymore.” Ginny felt Derrick slip a hand around her and pull her towards him. Ginny was about to tell him off, but was cut short by Harry’s laugh. 

“You must not know Gin very well if you think she’s ‘your girl’,” Harry said, smirking, “Ginny isn’t anyone’s girl. Not yours, and she has never been mine. She is her own woman. Oh, she may date you, sure, but you can’t claim her anymore than you can claim lightning.” Harry smiled and shook his head and smiled at Ginny, “You can only marvel at its beauty and thank Merlin that you had the chance to witness it, no matter how brief.”

Ginny’s heart stopped in her chest. _No,_ she told herself _. He can’t truly still feel that way for me. I left him over three years ago. Surly he’s moved on._ Then, as he bent over and kissed Hermione on the cheek, and apologized for using her boyfriend to help organize this little reunion, another, more primal part of her wondered, _how did he get to be such a smooth talker, with such a nice bum?_ Ginny quickly controlled her mind and focused as Harry smiled at Audrey, whom he had never met. He also smiled at Angelina, and smiled as George pulled him into a hug. “Welcome back. How are you doing? Any new birds in your life, any of them have sisters?” Harry laughed as Angelina pulled him down. Bill was next, and shook Harry’s offered hand, and then he too, pulled him into a hug.  Fleur was smiling when Harry hugged her. “I hope my sister wasn’t too,” Fleur hesitated, “forceful, when extracting payment from you.” Harry laughed, and Hermione shot them a questioning glance. “Gabrielle was part of an Auror investigation, and Harry happened to be involved. She volunteered to be, for lack of a better term, bait, to catch a man that was suspected of using Unforgivables on young women of Gabrielle’s age.” Fleur smiled wickedly as she continued. “The only payment she asked for was a single date with the Wizarding World’s most eligible bachelor. She wrote back that Harry was an absolute gentleman, and that his kiss was absolutely divine.” Fleur laughed as Harry turned a wonderful red, and Ginny stared at him, burning daggers into him. 

“So, you had a good time with her?” asked Derrick, and Ginny’s defenses quickly rose. She didn’t like the tone Derrick was taking, although she herself had thought the same thing not moments before. 

Harry’s tone was cold. “She did a brave thing, and I gave her something she had been after since I meet her during the Tri-Wizard tournament. It was a simple kiss. She was sixteen, nearly seventeen years old. I enjoyed the time, but she knew, as do most, that my heart just wasn’t in it.”  The air was thick with the words that everybody was waiting to hear. Even Ginny couldn’t delude herself from the look of longing that flashed as he looked at her, before continuing on. “Regardless, I have one girl in my life; I’d be hard pressed to let another in right now.” Ginny just stared at him as he shook Charlie and Percy’s hands, and then turned to face her.

“I know it’s been a while since I saw you, and the last time, I never said goodbye,” 

“Again!” Ginny spit out before she was able to stop herself, and she felt Derrick pull her closer. She shrugged off his arm and stood to face Harry. 

He smiled at her that damn crooked smile that made him look so damn irresistible. “The first time was the Death Eater’s fault, not mine. The last one was all me, so I say that makes us even.” He held out his arms, as if asking for a hug. He had done that often, years ago, and she felt the old habit of running into them rise up. She hesitated and his smile faltered slightly, and his arms started to fall. 

“I don’t think she will be hugging you, Potter,” came Derrick’s smug voice. Ginny turned on him, eyes blazing.

“You are nobody to tell me who I can and can’t hug, or do, for that matter. I am my own woman. I have too many brothers trying to protect me to want a boyfriend that does the same.” With that, Ginny walked to Harry and pulled him into a hug. Quickly, as if subconsciously, her arms snaked around his waist and his found their own spot over her shoulders. She quickly settled into the spot on his chest were her head fit so perfectly, as if designed to be there, the missing piece of a puzzle. “I fit,” she whispered, not even meaning too. She felt the chuckle in his chest and she blushed at the memory she was sure he was thinking about. She pulled away, and Harry smiled at her. 

“I’m back. I’m still complicated, but I’m back,” he said, not bothering to keep it a whisper. She heard Derrick growl, but she didn’t say anything as he turned towards her parents.

“You two have always treated me as one of your own. I know my parents loved me, but in my twenty two years alive, most of the people who have ever hugged me, cared for me, loved me, and are in this room.” Harry swallowed visibly and his eyes slowly became watery as he continued. “If we take away names, and I just tell stories of my life for the last decade plus, most people would think I have six brothers, a sister,” he nodded at Hermione, and Ginny sighed in relief, she hated being thought of as Harry’s sister, “and two wonderful parents. You two told me, before I left, that this was home, and you loved me as a son. In the last three years I understood what that really means.” Ginny’s heart broke as the tears fell from Harry’s face. “I know exactly what it feels like to love a child, even one that isn’t yours, as if it was. If you don’t mind, I want to take you up on that offer you made me before I left. Mum, Dad.”

Ginny giggled as Molly hugged him for all she was worth. She was laughing and crying all at the same time, her tears soaking into Harry’s white shirt. Arthur walked towards the cupboard and pulled out a small box, opened it, and showed it to Harry. Ginny knew what it was. It was his own hand for the now expanding Weasley Family clock. Harry nodded and her father placed it on the clock, and it automatically spun to ‘Burrow’ a new place on the clock, since many of them had their own homes. 

After a moment, Harry straightened. “We’re going to need another hand on the clock,” he said quietly. That comment stopped everything in their tracks. The whole family turned to him, and Ginny felt her heart clench. Harry had found someone, she reasoned. That’s why he was coming home, to get his family’s approval. He had already said he had another girl in his life, and she knew very well that Harry did not date lightly. 

Harry took a deep breath. “Mum, you may want to sit down for this.” He waited for her to sit, and Ginny followed suit. “The summer after Sirius’s death, you all know I came to the Burrow more or less recovered. When I got back to Privet Drive, however, I was far from it. I was a wreck, and I never stayed in that little bedroom. On that first day, I left the house before anyone could realize that I had been crying, it was close to 3 in the morning.” Ginny heard her mother gasp, and Harry smile at it. “It’s alright, nothing bad happened. I went wondering around Privet Drive and anywhere my feet would take me. Around 5 that morning, I ran into a young girl, Jessica, alone on a bench. I passed her, and realized she had been crying too. I sat next to her, and we both sat in silence for a while. Eventually, she laughed around her tears, and asked me how bad it was. I told her I was responsible for the death of my Godfather, and she told me she was responsible for the death of her mother, so she had won.” Harry stopped, and wiped his eyes, “She and I started talking, and we spent nearly four hours on that bench. We spent that whole day together. She was a Yank. Her father had sent her to live with her mother’s sister while the house they lived in was being rebuilt from a fire. I guessed it was also to keep her mind off what had happened.” 

Harry took a deep breath and sent a look that she had seen enough times. It was the look he used when try to convey a silent apology to someone, usually her. “We were both grieving, and we, um, spent a lot of time comforting each other in ways I wasn’t getting from anywhere else.” Harry was noticeably red, nearly as red as Weasley hair. George laughed at this point, and Charlie, Bill, Angelina and Percy snickered slightly. Hermione, Audrey, Fleur and Molly flushed slightly. Ginny saw red. “We, well, I spent several days at her Aunt’s house while she worked. Yes, what you all are probably thinking, we did. When Professor Dumbledore sent the letter letting me know I would be leaving Privet Drive, I completely forgot about her.” Ginny was furious at this point, but stayed in her seat. He was going to pay later, when her mother wasn’t around.

“Why are you telling us this, Harry?” Ginny’s father asked.

Harry took another deep breath. “When I left three years ago, I was recovering from losing the only woman who had ever loved me, in a romantic sense. To this day, she is the only person I have loved in that way.” The look he gave Ginny stopped her heart. It’s message was as clear as if he spoken the words out loud. “Yet, within a week of arriving in Washington, D.C., I received a very special visitor.”

“The slag,” Ginny spat. She was not prepared for his answer.

“Gin, I love you, but speak ill of her, and we will have problems.” Harry’s voice was cold, commanding, and in complete control. He hadn’t even looked in her direction. “And no, not Jessica. It was her father.” His voice softened, and he looked at the floor. “Jessica died in March of the following year. The man, Samuel, recognized me from the news article in the _Wise Man_ , the American’s east coast Wizarding newspaper.”

“So, that girl, Jessica, was a witch?” Hermione asked.

“No, she wasn’t. Fate, the cruel…” Harry paused, and took a deep breath, “Fate didn’t mind giving her family a way of finding me. Jessica, and her father Sam, were as non magical as your parents, Hermione. However Anna, Jessica’s mother, wasn’t. She was a witch. Anna and Sam were a perfect mix of Muggle and Wizarding lifestyles, and Sam kept his subscription to the _Wise Man_ even after Anna died, and when they ran an article about me coming to the States, he jumped into a car and drove nearly a thousand miles to come see me.”

“Why, Harry?” Hermione asked again.

“Sam had lost nearly every member of his family, but before his daughter died, he promised her that if he ever had the chance, he would find me. He had already known who I was by then, although Jessica never did. When I arrived to the States, he was already dying from cancer, an illness that Muggles get,” Harry clarified when he saw the eyebrows of several people go up, including Ginny’s own. “He needed to tell me something very important. Jessica had died in labor. Ron, come out here.”

Ginny’s eyes landed on the door. Ron walked out, and holding his hand was a small black haired girl. She looked at them with wide eyes until she caught sight of Harry. She quickly ran into his arms as he knelt to catch her. The girl, now apparently comfortable, looked around some more. When her eyes caught Ginny’s, the older girl gasped. She had freckles, and amber brown eyes.

“Sarah, meet the family,” Harry whispered into the girl’s ear. “These are your aunts, uncles, cousins, grandparents and godparents in here.” The little girl turned sharply at Harry, and a small smile graced her face. He turned her towards the family. “Family, this is Sarah Lily Potter. My daughter.”

****************************************************************************

Harry watched from his spot up against the sitting room’s wall with amazement as his little girl sat across the room on the floor, jabbering quickly with her blond cousin. She and Vicky struck up an inseparable friendship within moments of meeting, regardless of age, and sat talking and playing with some of Ginny’s old dolls that Molly had dug up. The family, now one of the most influential of the purebloods, was no longer struggling financially, but they still kept and cherished their humble beginnings. Little Molly tried to engage the older girls, and Harry felt his heart soar as Sarah happily gave her doll to the younger girl and started to play with her as well. After years spent at the abusive hands of the Dursleys, Harry could only guess on how wonderful it felt to be included in the older kids’ games, but he was glad that his daughter was happy to share anything she had. 

“She is a beautiful little girl, Harry. You are lucky. It took seven tries for me to get my baby girl.” Arthur’s voice was full of pride, and Harry turned to face him. The older man was smiling, looking at Sarah with a fondness that Harry felt. “Although, I must admit, the black hair is new for me.” Harry chuckled as Arthur shot him a curious look.

“The odds are you were going to have several grandkids without red hair. So far, it’s only two.” 

“Three,” Arthur corrected; “Teddy’s hair fluctuates. Have you seen him yet?” 

Harry nodded. “I’ve actually seen him several times in the last few years, and I send him letters and pictures all the time. He’s quite excited to have a sibling now. I’ve actually asked Andromeda if she would allow me to have Teddy on the weekends and stuff, once she’s a little more comfortable with me. I want to do a good job with both of them.”

“Harry,” Arthur’s tone became slightly serious, and Harry felt a knot of worry begin to form in his gut “I won’t say that I am proud of the situation, but I am proud on how you handled it. You’ve taken full responsibility for Sarah since the minute you saw her, right?”

Harry nodded, and chuckled. “I guess I never finished the story. Mo-I mean, Mum, got so excited to have another granddaughter that she just shattered my concentration.” Arthur chuckled. “If I didn’t know any better, I say she favors daughters over sons.” 

“The reason we have seven kids isn’t because we hadn’t figured out how to use contraception tools, I promise you that,” Arthur said, and Harry blushed. “Oh, you’re a dad now. You obviously know how kids come about, and since we have seven…”

“Okay, okay, consider me sufficiently chastised,” Harry mumbled. “So, yes, Sarah has been my only concern since I meet her. Her Grandfather, Sam, was a wonderful man. He never blamed me for what happened to Jessica. He needed someplace to leave Sarah when he died, and well, I am her father. He helped me at first, and I paid for all his medical expenses, and the funeral expenses.”

“So, he did die.”

“Yeah, about two years ago. I took him to every healer and doctor I could find, but to no good end. He was a smoker, and well, he was too far gone when I met him. He did say that he was glad to have met me, and that Jessica would be happy to know Sarah was in good hands. I’ve managed alright alone with her. I, well, I just felt lonely over there,” Harry admitted.

“And a particular redheaded daughter of mine had nothing to do with it?” Arthur asked, his eyebrows arched in suspicion.

Harry blushed, but was saved by Molly entering in from the kitchen. “Granddaughters,” she called, “girls, come into the kitchen, and help me get the desert. My own daughter just stormed out of the house.” The frustration in her voice was enough to keep Harry in check. Vicky and Molly stood and hurried into the kitchen. “Sarah, dear, come on, you too,” Molly clucked, and Harry had to repress a chuckle at the look of absolute delight on the little girl’s face. As they filed out, Ron laughed.

“Figures. Only a damn Potter would be happy for chores.” Ron’s smile, though, told Harry he understood what had caused Sarah’s happiness. Hermione smacked his arm, but smiled too. 

“Harry, she is absolutely beautiful,” Hermione said, the awe evident in her voice

“Yeah, mate. I’ve never seen such a spunky, polite, yet absolutely sarcastic little girl before,” Charlie chuckled. “When she asked me what I did, I told her I was a dragon tamer. I swear, she rolled those cute little eyes, and then, with the most adorable smile, told me she had figured that out from the burns, and what, specifically, was it I did with dragons, because her dad wouldn’t tell her.” The room chuckled.

“Yeah, mate. When she woke up, she looked at me and gave me this look and asked me if I was her Uncle Ron,” Ron chuckled. “I haven’t been this frightened of a little girl since Ginny. She looked ready to hex me.”

“She probably would. She’s strong magically, though I can’t figure out how.” Harry replied

“Wouldn’t have anything to do with her father, now would it?” Bill asked, smirking. “She’s a Potter, and a damn cute one like that. Her mother had to be a real looker if Sarah came out that pretty.” Harry gave him a curious look.

“Jessica had to be gorgeous, because, you, oh brother of mine, are just not a looker.”

“Hey!” Harry said, indignant. 

“Harry, relax. Sarah is really a wonderful little girl.”

 “She’s amazing,” Harry said, smiling. “I can’t wait to get her on a broom. She loves it when I take her up, and she thinks dives are the greatest idea ever. The girl’s going to be a Seeker, guaranteed.”

“No, Daddy. I told you, I wanna play Chaser. Diving’s just fun,” came the light, sweet voice of his daughter. She was holding several plates of, to Harry’s surprise, treacle tart. The little girl started handing them out, along with her other two cousins. She constantly got the names of her aunts and uncles wrong, and Harry tried to contain his laugh until, in a huff of frustration, she walked over to him and looked up with her wide amber eyes. “Daddy, can you tell me everyone’s name again.”

“Alright, little one. I know there are a lot of us here, so don’t worry, you’ll get it soon enough. It took me a while to get all the names straight, and I’ve know them for years.” Sarah and the room at large chuckled as Harry sat down on one of the available armchairs. “Okay, you remember your grandparents?” Sarah nodded

“Yup. Grandma and Grandpa. They’re easy, Daddy,” Sarah said, and again got a chuckle out of the room. Harry just shook his head. She was a sarcastic one.

“Well, they have seven kids. Six sons, and then a girl. They are all redheads. Grandma and Grandpa all but adopted me in my time at Hogwarts, so it makes us seven boys and a girl.” Harry took a moment to prepare himself as he waited for his daughter’s unusually sharp mind to pick up on the discrepancy. She didn’t disappoint.

“There are two missing, Daddy.” She asked.

“Well, little one, Ginny, the girl, was at dinner. She left just a bit ago. The other one, well, he was Uncle George’s twin, Uncle Fred.”

“Oh, I know him. He’s the brave funny man that’s in heaven with Mama and my grandparents, right?” Sarah said, looking at George. He nodded, and Sarah looked back at Harry expectantly, and Harry was relieved that Sarah had left it at that. She was usually an inquisitive little thing, but something had set the fire in her little brown eyes blazing.

“Well, those two, come here,” Harry said to Ron and Hermione, “are my closest friends, Uncle Ron, and Aunt Hermione. They are your Godparents, just like I’m Teddy’s Godfather.” 

“So, you’re married?” asked Sarah bluntly, and Hermione blushed, and Ron chuckled nervously.

“No, Sarah, they’re just dating, not married,” Harry answered for them, although he was sure he heard George’s cough, which sounded strangely like ‘not yet’.

“Why not?” she asked them. “You two are Daddy’s best friends, the ones that have loved each other since forever, right?” The room tried to stifle another laugh, and Harry smiled and looked at his two best friends expectantly.

Ron looked at Hermione, and smiled. “She’s right,” he said, hushing the room. He winked at Sarah, and she giggled, and Ron fell to a knee and took Hermione’s hand. “You heard the girl, I’ve loved you forever now, and I should have asked you years ago, but, Hermione Jean Granger, will you marry me?” 

Hermione looked down at him, stunned, and he went into his pocket, but stopped, and looked at Sarah. “Sarah, if we’re going to be good godparents, we need to be married, right?” Sarah nodded a huge smile on her face. “Well, to get married, I need a ring. Do you have one?” Sarah nodded again, and held out a ring that she fished out of her pocket. Harry sat stunned as Hermione chuckled and sobbed as Ron slid the ring onto her hand. Ron looked up at her, “You could answer, ‘Mione. I don’t think I can wait anymore.” 

Hermione smiled at him, and knelt down to be at face level with both him and Sarah. “I’ve waited for you since I was twelve. You can wait a minute more,” she told him, and kissed him lightly. Harry did laugh this time. “Sarah, did your Uncle Ron tell you to what to say?” Sarah nodded, giggling, and whispered softly into Hermione’s ear, and the two girls giggled again. “Yes, it was like a story book prince, wasn’t it? So, I should say yes, since he is my prince, right?” Sarah nodded again, and Hermione smiled at her, then looked at Ron. “Yes, you crazy, wonderful man, of course I’ll marry you!” she said, and nearly took him down to the floor with the force of her kiss. The room roared into applause and cheers, and a few wolf whistles, as the kiss continued.

After a moment, Ron pulled Hermione up and kissed Sarah on the cheek. “You did a good job there, kiddo.” 

“So, little one, should I still go through the family?” Harry was skeptical that Sarah had truly needed help remembering everyone’s names, but she nodded, and Harry continued as Ron and Hermione took their place on the sofa next to him, both grinning like mad.

“Shouldn’t you two go out and celebrate?” Harry asked. 

“Where would we go, Harry?” Hermione huffed, and Harry had to suppress another grin. Merlin, did he miss them. “Our entire family is here, my parents are in Italy on holiday, and I haven’t seen you in THREE YEARS! If you think I am letting you out of my sight, you’re mad.” 

“Okay, okay, relax, Hermione,” Harry said, and he felt his mood skyrocket. He looked at his daughter, and then pointed to where George stood, his hand resting on Angelina, who was sitting and feeding Freddy some tart. “That’s Uncle George and Aunt Angelina. They are little Freddy’s parents. I played Quidditch with both of them when we were at Hogwarts. Uncle George was a Beater, and Aunt Angelina was a Chaser, one of the best I have ever seen.” Sarah smiled and waved and Angelina. 

“I wanna play Chaser, too. When Daddy gives me a broom, can you teach me how?” Sarah asked.

“Sure, Sarah. That’s what family does. We’ll have a full team soon enough, although you’ll have to wait a little bit.” Angelina placed a hand on her flat belly and looked at her husband. “We were going to tell you all at dinner, we’re expecting again!” Angelina said with a flourish, and the room filled up with noise again. Molly rushed across, unable to stop herself, and pulled both Hermione and Angelina into a hug. 

“Oh, what a wonderful night. A son comes back, one that I always thought of as a daughter is officially going to be one, and two new grandbabies! Oh what a wonderful night!” Molly cried, and Sarah giggled. 

“Grandma, you’re so silly,” she said, and Molly laughed at the little girl.

Angelina looked at Sarah, “You can always get Ginny to teach you. She’s a professional player now, with the Harpies. She’s their number two Chaser.” Harry felt Sarah stiffen on his lap, but Harry wrote it off to excitement at having a chance to learn from somebody who was on her favorite English team. There was no way his daughter could have already figured it out. 

“So, is there anyone else with any surprises waiting in the wings?” Harry asked, and the room laughed again. “Sarah, those two over there are Aunt Audrey and Uncle Percy. They are little Molly’s parents.”

“I know him!” Sarah examined, and pointed to Charlie. “He’s the dragon tamer. He’s silly like Grandma.” Harry laughed, and nodded. 

“The last two are Vicky’s and Dominique’s parents, Uncle Bill and Aunt Fleur,” Harry finished up as Molly and the rest of the women went to examine Hermione’s ring and talk to Angelina, a little exhausted from what should have been a quick recap of their family.

“What am I, a garden gnome?” came a silken voice that Harry had heard more often in his dreams than in life in the last four years. Harry turned to see Ginny in the shadows of the doorway. Harry started to smile at her, but noticed her face was tear-tracked. He started to get up, but was stopped by his daughter’s question. 

“Daddy, Aunty Fleur looks a lot like that nice lady we went out with in France!” Sarah yelled, and that drew the attention of the rest of the family. 

“You took your daughter on a date, Harry. Smooth,” Ginny joked, and that caught the attention of Molly. 

“Ginevra! Where have you been? You’ve missed all the good news!” Ginny lifted an eyebrow at her and Molly waved her arm around. “Ron proposed, and Angelina’s pregnant again.”

“Conrgrats,” Ginny said a little half heartedly. “Sorry if I’m a buzz killer. I just had to dump Derrick.” 

“That’s the best news of the night!” Molly exclaimed, and Harry had to laugh at that.

Ginny obviously heard, and didn’t take well to it. She shot Harry a look that killed the laugh in his mouth. He’d seen that look a few times before, and that never bore well. “Think it’s funny, Potter? At least I don’t have to take my daughter out on dates,” she snarled.

“Of course he has to take me!” Sarah shot back. “I’m his little one! I have to protect Daddy’s heart! Last time he gave it to someone, they broke it!”

The room fell silent. Ginny looked down at the girl, and Harry knew what she was going to say before it came it out, and he groaned when it did. “I know your dad cared for your mum…” but she was cut off.

“It wasn’t my mum!” Sarah yelled, and Harry prepared himself for the worse. He knew, without a doubt, his daughter was about to spill his second deepest secret, but he knew better than to stop the little girl when she was on a roll. She was magical, and when her emotions where high, accidental magic always seemed to happen and it always seem to hurt. “It was you!”

“Sarah!” Harry yelled, not risking ruining everything.

“Quiet, Daddy.” Harry tried to tell her off, but found he couldn’t speak. “You should have told her how much she hurt you when she said she didn’t want to marry you.”

***

Ginny sat out on the back steps of the Burrow. In the last few hours, her life had been turned upside down, sideways, confounded, and then blasted away. Little Sarah Lily Potter had just aired out her dirtiest laundry in front of her entire family; the relationship she was hoping would be her escape from The Burrow had just gone up in smoke, and worst of all, Harry had managed to prove to her, and everyone else, that he had finally gotten past the darkness that had haunted him for so long. 

“ _You_ _should have told her how much she hurt you when she said she didn’t want to marry you.”_

  _Harry flung his wrist out and his wand appeared there, he pointed it at himself and he glowered at her. “Apologize, now.” The authority in his voice shook Ginny to her core._

“ _Harry,” Ginny interrupted, “not here-” but she was cut off by Harry’s look._

“ _Oh no, don’t let my little one fool you. She knows exactly what happened and what you mean to me. She’s seen more pictures of you than of anyone else, maybe even her own mother. Don’t forget, Gin, they still run stories of us often enough, wondering what went wrong.” Harry’s eyes turned to his daughter, who stood defiantly under his glare, “Apologize, now, Sarah.”_

“ _No. She is a meany!” Sarah said defiantly, and Ginny, trying valiantly to ignore the looks from her family, had to stifle a laugh. That little girl had spunk._

“ _Why?” asked Harry. “What did she do that makes her mean?”_

_Ginny was amazed at the path Harry was using to discipline his daughter. Sarah looked at him, then to Ginny, then back at her father. Harry raised an eyebrow at her. “I thought as much. Apologize, or it’s bed time. Are you going to apologize?”_

“ _No! She hurt you. If she would have said yes, you wouldn’t hurt so much.” Sarah got a look in her eye and Ginny was worried for a fraction of a second, but her anger won._

“ _Oh, and you think your wonderful dad never hurt me?” she asked the little girl, and she saw Harry stiffen. He turned and glared at her._

“ _Don’t talk to my daughter like that, Gin.”_

“ _What? Don’t tell her the truth?” Ginny spat. “Did you tell her how you hurt me? How you lied to me?”_

“ _I never lied to you!” Harry bellowed, and Ginny stared at him as energy radiated off him._

“ _Yes, you did!” and Ginny did something she hadn’t done in a long time, she slapped him, clear across the face._

_The next moment, she was hit with her own Bat Bogey Hex. As she tried to get the clawing things off her face, she heard a little girl’s scream, and then Harry’s voice saying the counter curse to end it. Ginny took a moment to gather herself and she saw Harry kneel at her side. “You okay?” he asked her, true worry echoed in his voice and face. She nodded, not trusting her voice. He stood and turned to his daughter._

“ _What did I tell you about magic?”_

“ _Daddy, she hurt you!”_

 “ _That is no excuse. Gin didn’t do anything wrong. I asked her a question, and she told me the truth. She was honest. I would rather that than her lie to me, and we both know how much a lie can hurt someone, don’t we? Now, let’s go. Your stubbornness, I can tolerate. Using magic, I will not. Upstairs, now.” The room was quiet as Harry marched his daughter to the stairs. After a moment, he told her to wait, and with a quick flick of his wand, set up a privacy screen, and shot a guilty look at the eldest Weasleys. He went from towering Auror to shy boy in a heartbeat. “Can I stay the night? I doubt Ron and Hermione will be staying here tonight; I could use the attic room.” Arthur nodded, Molly too stunned to answer. Harry noticed and the commanding voice was back “Do not harass Ginny. This was a decision she made, and I don’t fault her. Like I told that idiot, you can’t force Ginny to do anything, and I never will. I gave her a choice, and she chose the one best for her. I respect her for it, and in a way, thank her. If she had said yes, I wouldn’t have ever gotten Sarah.” Harry undid the wards, and marched his daughter upstairs. The silence was deafening, and Ginny realized, after several minutes of that uncomfortable silence, that Harry had really grown into a man, and worse, she realized that he didn’t need her, he had Sarah._

Ginny shivered as a sudden gust of wind chilled her. She hated herself, but a part of her, a dirty, childish part of her, had wanted Harry to need her. Even if that was part of the reason she had said no to his proposal, she still wanted him to need something he couldn’t have.

_That year after the war, the year Harry spent helping her family rebuild, working with George and Ron at the shop, helping Bill reinforce wards on the Burrow, Shell Cottage, and a number of other residences and buildings, including Hogwarts, helping Hermione find her parents, and helping in the reforming of the Ministry, Harry had only one overriding concern, her._

_He would sneak into Hogwarts at least once a week, sometimes more, to see her. It had never been physical for him, at least not in the sense it was for other boys. For Harry, it was to see the reason he was doing all the work. She had become his crutch. When she had forbidden him to come for two weeks, he landed himself in the hospital after over exhausting himself. After that, he began to improve, going over a month without seeing her at times. However, when she finished school, she feared he might have fallen into a relapse. It had taken him all of three days after she had graduated to ask for her hand in marriage._

_He had seemed so nervous that night, and at the end of a marvelous dinner, which he had cooked himself, he asked her, in the most boyish of ways, if she wanted good news or bad news, first. With the memories of the war still fresh in her mind, she had asked for the good news first. He got down on one knee and had asked her to marry him._

_Ginny remembered being scared, worrying that he was doing it so he would have an excuse to be physically near her again. She decided to test him. She told him no, to give her a few days to think about it._

_He was gone three hours later, on a volunteer exchange to America with the Aurors._

The sound of the back door opening brought Ginny out of her memory, and she turned to look at a small, black haired girl come outside. Ginny was a little surprised, but said nothing as the little girl, dressed in faded pink pajamas and clutching a stuffed teddy bear, sat herself down next to her. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Ginny heard the little girl speak.

“I’m sorry I hexed you.” Ginny had to smile as she heard the girl’s voice. 

“Why did you? I know you said I hurt Harry-“

“Daddy.” She corrected, and Ginny had to stifle a laugh.

“Daddy, but why use that hex?”

“It's my favorite. I don’t know where I learned it, but it always works, and it always makes Daddy smile when I use it, except tonight.”

The silence stretched on for a few minutes before the little girl spoke up again, her eyes still on the night.

“You hurt my daddy, but he’s too good a person to tell you. I remember when I met him. He was so happy when he was with me, but at night, he would sit at his desk and pull out two pictures and place them right in front of him. Then he would get that big person drink that makes smoke come out your ears, and drink and look at them. One day, I snuck into his office and opened the drawer where he keeps them,” The little girl stopped, and Ginny looked down to see why. She was looking right up at her. “It was a picture of his mum and dad, and one of you and him. It’s scary how much alike the two pictures were. When I asked him why he was crying, he said he was scared. He told me that every single person he had ever loved had left him at one point. He didn’t want me to leave, too.” The girl looked down. “I thought you had died, but when I saw a picture of you in a newspaper, I asked Daddy. He told me how you told him you didn’t want to marry him, and that he loved you enough to leave so you could be free. From then on, I never liked you.” 

Ginny looked in shock at the little girl. She was so protective of her father, so loyal. Ginny, as much as she loved her father, had never been this protective of him. As she thought for a minute, she realized that the little girl had a point. Everyone that he had ever loved, his parents, Sirius and Dumbledore, had died. Ron had abandoned him during the hunt for the Horcruxes, and she had turned away his marriage proposal without fully explaining to him why. 

“I accept your apology. You might be right. I did hurt your dad, and I may have done it on purpose. I’m sorry, too.”

The little girl looked at Ginny, and nodded. They sat in silence for a little bit longer before the little girl spoke up again. “Daddy still loves you. He told that lady in France. He has a lot of nightmares. He told me, when I had one, that he always has them. When I asked if it were dragons, or evil wizards, or Dementors, I told Daddy that he was better than those things, because he is the bravest, strongest Daddy in the world. He told me his nightmares were of people he loved getting hurt. When I asked him who, he said me, and you.”

Ginny looked at the little girl. She seemed a little older than she had in the sitting room. “Sarah, does anyone know you’re out here?” Sarah shook her head. 

“Please don’t tell Daddy. He’s really mad at me.”

“I won’t, Sarah. Now, let’s get you back into bed.” Ginny stood and offered her hand to the little girl. She hesitated for a moment, and then took it; Ginny pulled her closer and Apparated as silently as she could to the top bedroom. The girl looked around, and then giggled when she realized what Ginny had done. “Shh, now get into bed, and nobody will be none the wiser.” Ginny helped the little girl into bed, and tucked her in. Ginny hesitated, and then planted a soft kiss on the little girl’s head. “Sweet dreams, little one.”

“Gin?” came the little voice when Ginny was nearly at the door. Ginny stopped and looked at the little girl. “Can you love my Daddy back? He so wants you to. He always mumbles how much like you I am. He always thinks of you.”

Ginny’s heart clenched. “I’ll,” she hesitated, “I’ll think about it, okay?” 

“Okay,” yawned the little girl, her eyes drooping shut. “I hope you do. I want a mommy, too.”

Ginny sneaked out the door and closed it softly, and slunk down to the steps just outside the room. Her head was spinning from everything that little girl had said. Harry, her personal savior, still loved her. Sarah, his life and joy, hated her for breaking _his_ heart, and Ginny herself was just another person who left Harry without a reason. 

And yet, he still loved her. After everything that had happened, he still loved her. ‘ _He told me how you told him you didn’t want to marry him, and that he loved you enough to leave so you could be free,’_ Sarah had told her. Ginny shook her head and stood. Harry had several things to answer for.

She walked downstairs, deciding to get some tea in the kitchen before going into the sitting room to face whatever was left of the mob she called a family and find Harry. When she entered the kitchen, however, Harry was sitting at the table, two steaming cups in front of him. She stopped dead in her tracks, just a few stairs from the bottom, and stared at him. He slid one of the cups across the table, and just sat, drinking his. 

Ginny regained her wits. “Oddly familiar, don’t you think?”

His face remained impassive. “I’d thought you would like the similarities. It would be, what, four years in a few days? I should have waited, had I known we would be doing this.”

Ginny couldn’t help but laugh and finished her walk to the table. She took the cup and sipped. It was perfect, as she knew it would be. “I’m glad you find the similarities funny.” She took another sip. “Harry, I’m sorry I lost my cool earlier. I didn’t mean to slap you.” He arched an eyebrow at her, and she smiled softly in spite of herself, “Okay, yes I meant to slap you, and you did deserve it for lying to me, but I shouldn’t have done it in front of Sarah.”

Harry nodded. “I never lied to you. I don’t think I ever could.”

“And lying by omission isn’t lying?” She snapped. 

“Gin I never lied to you!” he snapped back.

She looked down at the cup in her hands. It was one of her mother’s a set of four, with only one remaining. It was white, with a powder blue design on it. Her fingers traced the lip of the cup as she spoke “Never telling me you had been with another woman is a lie, Harry. I was lead to believe it was something special between the two of us.” Ginny whispered. She felt used, and cheap. 

Harry’s voice softened and quivered “It was. You are still the only woman I’ve ever made love to. You’re still the only person I’ve ever loved in that way, and, to be sure I’m not lying by omission, the only person I think of.”

Ginny looked up at him. He was looking down, as if ashamed, and willing to take whatever punishment she decided to give. He rarely fought her; he confided in one of their many late night chats right after the Final Battle, and before they had reformed their relationship, that he often saw what an angry man would do to a woman at the Dursleys’ place. He often times would stop in the middle of an argument and look anywhere but at her, and lower his voice. The cost to do that, to control his anger, was always evident in his voice, just like it was now. She wondered why. She felt the wall she had built around her feelings for him start to crumble.

“What have I ever done to deserve this type of loyalty, Harry? How can you still love me after all this time?”

Harry looked at her, and she knew, without a doubt, that he was about to lie to her. “You don’t stop loving someone because they betray you, Ginny. That’s what makes it hurt so much.”

“Bullshit, Harry. Don’t avoid the question,” she snapped, before the words were completely out of his mouth.

He smiled at her, and she drove on. “Don’t lie to me. You can trust me, Harry,” she pled with him, and looked deep into those eyes she knew so well. An eternity seemed to pass as she waited for his answer. It was clear in his eyes he was weighing out something, debating in his mind. When it came, it shook her to her core.

“If it was just me, then I would, but it’s not just me anymore.” He stood, his face a mask of neutrality. “When I left you, it broke your heart. When you left me, you broke mine. They only reason I bothered putting myself back together was for that little girl upstairs.” He took a deep breath and then “Sarah and I will be leaving around eight tomorrow morning, I know you’re not a morning person, so I suggest you just stay in your room till nine. We’ll be gone by then. I work on both of our birthdays, so you don’t have to worry about seeing me or Sarah until Christmas. That’s gives you more than enough time to find someone that makes you happy.” Ginny could see his facade cracking at the mention of her finding someone else. Instead of rebuilding that wall she had around her heart, it fell down it down faster. She was amazed that he would tell her to find someone else, where they both knew how taxing it was for him. 

“Will you have found someone by then? That one person to make you happy?” she whispered as he walked past. He stopped, and she looked up at him. His facade was breaking faster now. He teetered for a moment, and then he leaned down, and with gentle lips, kissed her on the cheek, and whispered something. He straightened, and walked up the stairs, leaving her baffled, replaying his last words. 

“I already have, I’m just not good enough for her.”

 

 


End file.
